promote quality patient care and patient safety across the Houston community.

Advancing inclusivity and belonging for people from all backgrounds and ethnicities are key to the promotion of strong health care and the safety of our communities. We Indian Doctors Association stand with our Asian American and Pacific Islander colleagues and friends in the global Greater Houston effort to treat our fellow people with dignity and equity. We look forward to making great April 2021 Edition strides in the month of April and in the years to come.

President’s Message IDA’s Covid-19 Awareness Campaign This is yet another exciting month for the https://www.facebook.com/idahouston15 medical community and for IDA. We are https://www.instagram.com/houstonindian/ proud of our members in their decision to https://www.linkedin.com/in/indian-doctor-s raise public awareness and promote trust in -association-houston-0506a21a/ medical science within our community Jignesh Shah, MD regarding COVID-19 vaccines. Especially in President our home communities, there is significant skepticism amongst the general population. “Friends of IDA” The pandemic has threatened the welfare of healthcare workers who risk everything in their line of service. Let us continue to work together to do our part to end this devastating virus, which has affected so many of our patients, community members, and loved ones. You can help us beat this virus by getting vaccinated and encouraging “We are proud of the Indo-American doctors others to sign up for the vaccine. and healthcare workers for their service to the community during the current IDA continues to broaden its footprint pandemic. Their work truly embodies the through mentoring and providing motto of ‘Service before Self. Indian Doctors professional guidance to children, students, Association - Houston is an important and young professionals in training. We are partner for the Consulate to deepen the very proud of Rhea Sudhakaran and Ritu India – US partnership in Healthcare and Sudhakaran, who have made a great impact Medical Research in a range of areas on our community with their meal planning including strengthening the linkages and nutrition guide for Indian cuisine. between institutions in both the countries We recently celebrated National Doctors’ and promoting joint collaborations in the Day, on March 30th - the 179th anniversary field of research and medical education.” of Dr. Crawford Long utilizing general anesthesia for the first time in a surgical Mr. Aseem R. Mahajan case. IDA proudly continues to deliver and Consul General of India, Houston Happy Doctors’ Day to all of our amazing members! IDA’s Annual Gala MEMBERS CORNER July 31st, 2021 Annual Member Bindu Sudhakaran, MD

Hello all, I am Dr. Bindu Sudhakaran, a board-certified internist working at MHMG . I attended medical school at Calicut Medical College, , India, and completed my residency in Internal Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta. I have been practicing in Houston since 1998.

April 30th is the last day to purchase Like most internists, I focus on preventive individual tickets and tables. healthcare as well as general internal Click here to reserve your seat. medicine for adults with a special interest in diabetes and preventive cardiology. I enjoy Westin COVID19 Safety Protocols spending time with patients and listening to their concerns. I am a proud mother of twin girls and love spending time with my family. In my free time, I enjoy baking, cooking, reading, and traveling. I am one of the volunteer bakers for "Bundle of Joy", an organization created by our kids. We bake and deliver birthday cakes for foster kids.

Bindu Sudhakaran Memorial Hermann Medical Group Spring Primary Care (located in the CCC) 7474 N. Grand Pkwy W., Suite 400, Spring, TX 77379 (832) 717-7825 | (832) 717-7826 Fax In order to maintain a safe gala, IDA requests that all attendees be Dr. Sudhakaran’s Blog on vaccinated prior to this year’s gala. Nutrition Indian Cuisine Covid-19 Vaccine Scheduler & Resources: Like many members of the Indian https://findvaccinenow.com/ community, several of our family members https://vaccinefinder.org/search/ and friends have diabetes. I saw their frustrations about not being able to control this product was officially completed. I hope their blood sugar even though they were this resource will help our community to trying to eat “healthy”. They felt like they keep their diabetes under control while still could not enjoy any of their favorite foods able to enjoy the food they love. since they were diagnosed with diabetes. Even as a physician, I struggled to provide Rhea Sudhakaran them with more specific information. I was Junior at the University of Texas at discussing this at home one day when my Austin Majoring in Honors in Advanced daughters suggested that they could help me Nutritional Sciences find some resources and see how they could Minor in Health Communication help me make a simple information booklet for patients with diabetes on Indian meal Ritu Sudhakaran plans. Junior at the University of Texas at Austin Majoring in Neuroscience This is where the journey started two years Minor in Food & Society ago. My twin daughters, who were sophomores at UT studying Nutrition and Neuroscience, took it upon themselves during their vacation to find more Diabetes Diet: Indian information regarding an Indian diet for Cuisine diabetes. They found multiple great resources online, and one of them was written by our own AAPI members. I never knew that there was so much information already available online.

I also tried to educate myself through a Novo Nordisk program in which a dietitian would come and train the physicians. I learned more about the carb content in food and how to count carbs. After collecting multiple sources, we were able to create a simple booklet on the Indian diabetic diet to be given to patients. I reviewed this with CDE to make sure that what we created was accurate before I could give it to my patients. She suggested adding pictures of the food and their portion sizes, so we Click here for the full plan. cooked a variety of Indian foods, took pictures of each one, and added it to the handout.

After six months, we were ready with the booklet which was then presented to the Diabetic and Nutrition Council of Memorial Hermann to be approved for patient use. The Memorial Hermann Nutrition and Marketing department made the final edits, and then, details, marks the most evolved period in the Happy ! Kalinga architecture. It is said that the temple was designed in such a way that the rising sun's first rays would illuminate the deul (sanctuary) and the presiding deity. The temple stands on a base of a total of 24 intricately carved wheels, 12 on each side. Four of the 24 wheels can be used as sundials to tell the time!

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Holi is a popular ancient Hindu festival, IDA Social Media known as the "Festival of Love, Colors, and Spring”, celebrates the triumph of good over evil and the divine love of and .

India Ministry of Culture: Members and events are Sun Temple highlighted on our social media channels.

IDA Speakers Bureau Please update your membership profile on idahouston.org if you would be interested in becoming a motivational speaker for IDA at our future events.

IDA Physician Specialty Dedicated to or the Sun God and designed like his chariot, the massive and Awareness Videos magnificent Sun Temple at (kona meaning angle and ark referring to the sun) is one of the finest examples of ancient https://www.facebook.com/idahouston15 Indian architectural heritage. A UNESCO https://www.instagram.com/houstonindian/ World Heritage Site, the breathtakingly https://www.linkedin.com/in/indian-doctor-s splendid temple was once described by -association-houston-0506a21a/ Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore as the place where the language of stone surpasses the language of man. Situated around 30 km from , the temple, seemingly rising from the depths of the sea, is just 2 km away from the Bay of Bengal coastline. Built-in the 13th century by Ganga king Narasimhadeva Contact: [email protected] I, the temple with stunning sculptural Website: www.idahouston.org Phone: 662.786.0313 IDA-Greater Houston cannot be held responsible for the content of this e-newsletter, nor can it be responsible for the consequences of the actions taken based on the information provided. We accept liability only if we have subsequently confrmed the information found in this e-newsletter in writing. Please make sure that you are the intended recipient of this e-newsletter. If you are not, please notice that disclosing, copying, distributing, or taking any action in reliance to the contents of this information is strictly prohibited.